This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm an ex-mayor. Los Angeles is a magnet for people from all over the world. Some of them run for public office. Inevitably some of them stray from the golden rule and rule for those that have the gold. That's when I go to work. My name is Yorty. I'm a dead pol.

On Wednesday, the Clowncil approved a mostly meangingless measure by Members Tony Cardenas and Jan Perry instructing the City's Information Technology Agency to review what impact this law will have and what options there are. However, the City's resident expert on cable television, Councilman Bill Rosendahl, himself a former cable television executive and on-air personality, lamented the Nunez-Levine act will mean the death of public access. In the clip below, both Rosendahl and Council Member Dennis Zine make passioned pleas of support for public access followed by Tom LeBong who makes some sort of non-sequitir reference to the old 1950s cop drama, Highway Patrol starring Broderick Crawford.

On the other hand, with YouTube, blogs and other forms of technology is public access even necessary? I am certain more people read this blog than watch most of the shows on Channel 25 here in the East Valley (truthfully most of them are awful). That's a question that should be considered over time however it's ultimately a decision that should be up to the cable operators as private businesses and not have to be shaken down by politicians who will only waste the money.

In the days of Z Channel, public access was an important, democratic piece of the Free Speech puzzle. Thanks to fiber optics, in the next 10 years, we will have ten thousand channels from around the world available to us via satellite. I can't be too concerned about some "channel" that has been used for crap on the public dime...

Though Zuma Dogg has a point I also believe there is a time and it's coming very soon that technology will not only make Public Access irrelevant but will do the same to traditional media, especially newspapers.

However, we need to also not forget the shake-down of the cable companies by local government to allow them the "privilege" of jettisoning public access.

From four years ago: "NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Adelphia founder John Rigas was found guilty of conspiracy, securities fraud and bank fraud Thursday -- the most serious charges he faced over concealing $2.3 billion in loans and stealing more than $100 million from the now-bankrupt cable company."

Bill Rosendahl's old cable show was NOT publc access. It was a regular program presented by the cable company.

This issue has been discussed for a long time.

There are a very few good shows on public access, but for the most part it's just pure silliness -- people dressing up their dogs, putting tin foil on their heads to keep the space aliens away, mystics, and people with a need for attention like Zuma Dog.

As one poster noted, the advances in techology, especially in fiber options is making it easier for the legitimate and valuable information to be made available so cable companies don't have to spend resources support freak shows.

And the Internet is much more valuable way to communicate now. Only people with cable service can view public access shows, which isn't nearly as large as the number of people who are connected to the Internet.